The new drama tonight is on cable. On The Closer (TNT, 9 ET/PT), the plot gets current as Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) and team look into the kidnapping of a financier under investigation for defrauding his clients. Then on Raising the Bar (10 ET/PT), there's a new judge (guest John Michael Higgins) who's even tougher than Kessler, and Michelle falls for a cop who may be committing perjury.

It's a big night for returning cable series, starting with one of the most popular, The Closer (TNT, tonight, 9 ET/PT). Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda is now married to her FBI beau Fritz (Jon Tenney), which could be a problem, because her first case of the season lands her right in the middle of an FBI investigation. The series' crime plots are seldom as strong as they should be, but the show compensates with good characters and a very good cast, led by Sedgwick, who is a pleasure to watch.

Saying he was "deeply sorry," Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to operating a massive Ponzi scheme, then was handcuffed and whisked away to jail as some of his angry victims applauded.

If you throw a talent contest and no one much comes, is it still worth winning? Odds are the contestants on tonight's last-dance outing of Superstars of Dance (NBC, 8 ET/PT) would say yes, if only because even the tiniest TV audience is pretty sizable by dance standards. Still, in case the "superstars" all of whom are far better dancers than any of ABC's more popular "stars" are wondering what went wrong, here are a few answers: too many dull judges, too little effort made to get us to care about the dancers or understand their different styles, and one really ill-chosen host.

How do you get kids to vote? Just say no. Leonardo DiCaprio, Halle Berry, Jennifer Aniston, Tobey Maguire, Eva Longoria Parker and other stars are using reverse psychology to get young people into voting booths on election day.